popular culture — Bunk History

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What the Popularity of 'Fortnite' Has in Common With the 20th Century Pinball Craze

Long before parents freaked over the ubiquitous video game, they flipped out over another newfangled fad.

by Clive Thompson via Smithsonian on November 29, 2018

Cover of Orwell's "1984."

Here are the Biggest Fiction Bestsellers of the Last 100 Years

(And what everyone read instead.)

by Emily Temple via Literary Hub on November 27, 2018

'I'm Feeling Bad About America'

The sick history of the U.S. campaign song.

by J. W. McCormack via The Baffler on November 1, 2018

Athleisure clothing items including a windbreaker, cap, sweatpants, and running shoe.

How Athleisure Conquered Modern Fashion

The sudden ubiquity of sportswear might seem a little odd. But almost every feature of modern fashion was once adapted from athletics.

by Derek Thompson via The Atlantic on October 28, 2018

Poster for Barnum and Bailey circus.

The American Circus in All Its Glory

A new documentary tells the history of the big top.

by Joseph Bottum, Justin L. Blessinger via Humanities on October 19, 2018

David Porter Takes Us to School

The man who wrote "Soul Man" gives a master class on how code-switching through music helped catalyze the Civil Rights Movement.

by Tonyaa Weathersbee via The Bitter Southerner on October 16, 2018

Soldiers burning books.

How We Roasted Donald Duck, Disney's Agent of Imperialism

Why a 47-year old anti-colonialist critique by Chilean dissidents may be newly relevant in the Trump era.

by Ariel Dorfman via The Guardian on October 5, 2018

The Rape Culture of the 1980s, Explained by Sixteen Candles

The beloved romantic comedy’s date rape scene provides important context for the Brett Kavanaugh accusations.

by Constance Grady via Vox on September 27, 2018

How Auto-Tune Revolutionized the Sound of Popular Music

An in-depth history of the most important pop innovation of the last 20 years, from Cher’s “Believe” to Kanye West to Migos.

by Simon Reynolds via Pitchfork on September 17, 2018

Making Philly a Blue-Collar City

Sports, politics, and civic identity in modern Philadelphia.

by Timothy Lombardo via Sport in American History on September 6, 2018

Artistic photo for black history

The Trouble With Uplift

A curiously inflexible brand of race-first neoliberalism has taken root in American political discourse.

by Adolph Reed Jr. via The Baffler on September 4, 2018

Two posters of the "We Can Do It!" posters with Rosie the Riveter hang on a wall.

Rosie the Riveter Isn’t Who You Think She Is

While the female factory worker is a pop icon now, the “We Can Do It!” poster was unknown to the American public in the 1940s.

by Erick Trickey via Retropolis on September 3, 2018

People working out in bikinis in a mall.

As Swimsuit Season Ends, Pursuit of the ‘Bikini Body’ Endures

The "bikini body" is out. But the pressure to maintain the ideal female physique lives on.

by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela via Made By History on August 30, 2018

Nostalgia is Gaming's Biggest Trend

"Tanglewood" is the first new Sega Genesis game in years - the latest example of gaming developers looking back, not ahead.

by Lewis Gordon via The Outline on August 27, 2018

A mother pushes a child, on a swing at the Cabrini-Green public housing project in Chicago, May 28, 1981.

The 1992 Horror Film That Made a Monster Out of a Chicago Housing Project

In Candyman, the notorious Cabrini-Green complex is haunted by urban myths and racial paranoia.

by Ben Austen via Zócalo Public Square on August 17, 2018

A man alone among the rubble of a city

TV and the Bomb

During the Cold War, nuclear weapons were a frequent plot point on television shows. Fearful depictions in the 1950's became more darkly comedic in the 1960s.

by Reba A. Wissner via Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on August 13, 2018

The Healing Buzz of "Drunk History"

Sweet, filthy, and forgiving, it’s a corrective to the authoritative, we-know-better tone of most historical nonfiction.

by Emily Nussbaum via The New Yorker on July 16, 2018

The Strange Decline of H.L. Mencken

No American writer has wielded such influence. So why is he so little known today?

by John Rossi via The American Conservative on July 9, 2018

In the Trump Era, America Desperately Needs a Great Movie About Nuclear Apocalypse

If we want to avoid nuclear war, we'd better start imagining it again.

by Jon Schwarz via The Intercept on July 1, 2018

An Oral History of Voguing from a Pioneer of the Iconic Dance

"This is not just a fad. This, for us, was a dance of survival, but it was also a social dance."

by Ja'han Jones via HuffPost on June 4, 2018

The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show Lives on in the Internet Archive

Episodes from the infamous hip-hop radio show of the '90s.

by Drew Millard via The Outline on May 26, 2018

The Beautiful, Genuine Artistry of Retro Video Games

Amidst so much politics and tribalism, they can provide portals into thoughtfully rendered alternate worlds.

by Addison Del Mastro via The American Conservative on May 18, 2018

A Brief History of America’s Obsession With Sneakers

Invented for athletics, sneakers eventually became status symbols and an integral part of street style.

by Kate Keller via Smithsonian on May 18, 2018

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Inside the Band's Complicated History With the South

The Southern-rock group is much different than the one Ronnie Van Zant led in the Seventies.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine via Rolling Stone on May 15, 2018

The Attention Economy of the American Revolution

How Twitter bots help us understand the founding era.

by Jordan E. Taylor via The Junto on April 30, 2018

How Cosby's 'Pound Cake' Speech Helped Lead to His Downfall

His moralizing accelerated the cultural backlash against him and provided evidence that would be used against him at trial.

by Adam Serwer via The Atlantic on April 26, 2018

We’re the Good Guys, Right?

Marvel's heroes are back again, but with little of the subversive aura that once surrounded them.

by Daniel Immerwahr via n+1 on April 26, 2018

When Don the Talking Dog Took the Nation by Storm

Although he 'spoke' German, the vaudevillian canine captured the heart of the nation.

by Greg Daugherty via Smithsonian on April 23, 2018

How the Log Cabin Became an American Symbol

We have the Swedes and William Henry Harrison to thank for the popularization of the log cabin.

by Andrew Belonsky via Mental Floss on April 19, 2018

The 'Pedestrian' Who Became One of America's First Black Sports Stars

In 1880, Frank Hart wowed audiences at New York’s Madison Square Garden by walking 565 miles in six days.

by David Seideman via Atlas Obscura on April 17, 2018

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